


Wild Hunt

by LadyWallace



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Captured Eileen, Captured Sam, Case Fic, Faery Lore, Fairies, Gen, Halloween, Light Whump, No Slash, dean and cas to the rescue, essentially pre- Sam/Eileen, gen - Freeform, irish/ celtic folklore, lots of lore geekery (sorry), season 12, the wild hunt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-30
Updated: 2017-10-30
Packaged: 2019-01-26 15:07:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12560104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyWallace/pseuds/LadyWallace
Summary: It's almost Halloween and Sam and Dean are hoping to lie low at all costs. But Eileen shows up with weird signs out of Portland that need looking into. Little do they know that this hunt will lead them to the most ancient hunt of all—The Wild Hunt





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story is set right after the events of 12x3 "The Foundry"
> 
> Thanks to Aini_NuFire for betaing this one for me!

"Dude, seriously. Don't you think that's enough candy?"

Dean glanced up at his brother's annoyingly judgy face as he unloaded his bags of goodness onto the library table. "Sammy, it's almost Halloween. And there might be a lot of crap related to this holiday, but one of the good things about it is all the candy. Come on, it's fun-sized candy bars. You need higher quantities of these."

"There's nothing fun about diabetes," Sam scoffed and turned to appeal to Cas who had wandered into the room, casting a frown at the pile of candy Dean was unloading. Dean sighed. Apparently everyone was a critic.

"Or cavities," Cas commented. "Are you really going to eat all of that yourself, Dean?"

Dean glared at them, folding his arms over his chest. "You know, if you two would just stop judging me and join in with the fun, you may not be so anal all the time."

Sam sighed and his phone buzzed in his pocket, causing him to pull it out and glance at the screen.

"Besides, this is all I plan on doing for Halloween. Eating candy and maybe watching some horror movies on Netflix. Going out on Halloween never ends well." Dean ripped one of his bags of candy open and pulled out a tiny Snickers, tossing it at Sam's head. "Here, at least try them. I know you like Snickers."

Sam shot him a look when the candy bounced off him and landed on the table then looked more closely at the text. "Hey, it's from Eileen."

Dean looked up, immediately interested. "You sure you wanna share?"

Sam shot him a mega bitchface. "Dude, would lay off?"

"What? I have eyes, Sammy," Dean scoffed. Plus, he really liked the Irish hunter. And he knew that Sam did too.

"Anyway, she says she's in the states," Sam commented, choosing to ignore his brother, and reading over the text."

"So you two planning to hook up?" Dean couldn't help but ask.

Sam huffed and shot him a seriously? look. "Dean, do you actually have no shame?"

Dean, currently stuffing his face with candy as he kicked his feet up on the table, just smirked. Sam rolled his eyes.

"What does she say, Sam?" Cas asked instead, and frowned at Dean as he offered the angel a handful of candy insistently.

"She said she caught wind of some weird stuff going on up in Oregon and wondered if we had heard about it."

Dean frowned, vaguely recalling something about that, but with Mom having left them in the lurch, and him trying to pretend everything was just fine again, he hadn't been paying much attention to hunts for things that he couldn't instantly shoot or stick a blade in.

"You mean that thing with the milkless cows and the strange amount of early labors for pregnant women?" he asked around another mouthful of candy.

Sam made a face at him. "Yeah."

"She think it's demons?"

Cas cocked his head to one side. "Demons usually mutilate cattle as opposed to just causing them to be barren of milk."

"Exactly," Dean said. "So why does she think this is our kind of thing?"

Sam texted back quickly before he put his phone back in his pocket. "Because she said the hunter who trained her wrote about something similar that happened in Ireland and that it's bad."

"How bad?" Dean and Cas asked at the same time.

"Bad enough to need to stop it ASAP," Sam said with a shrug. "She said she'd tell us more when she gets here. She should be stopping by later tonight."

"Great," Dean muttered. "Guess we're gonna end up hunting on Halloween after all. Oh well, I guess I use something to shoot." He stood up, raining a few candy bar wrappers onto the ground. "I'm gonna go grab some stuff for dinner. Gotta impress your girlfriend."

"Dean, stop, seriously," Sam growled.

Dean smiled but shook his head. "Don't worry, kiddo, I won't embarrass you." He grabbed his jacket and headed out to the Impala again. Truthfully, he was looking forward to Eileen joining them on a hunt. It might help him keep his mind off Mom and Lucifer and all the other crap they'd been dealing with lately.

He just hoped this hunt would give him lots of things to shoot.

~~~~~~

Sam was helping Dean in the kitchen making hamburgers when the knock on the door came. He hurried up the stairs and pulled the door open with the familiar shriek of metal, revealing Eileen on the other side.

"Hi, Sam," she said with a smile.

"Hey! It's…good to see you," Sam replied, signing clumsily. He'd been trying to learn some Sign Language in his spare time, but hadn't had a lot of spare time.

Eileen smiled graciously at him all the same and simply stepped forward to give him a hug. "Thanks. You too."

"Well, um, Dean's making hamburgers for dinner, so you're just in time. Come on in." He ushered her inside and closed the door behind her, leading her down the stairs where Dean came out of the kitchen.

"Hey, Eileen! Long time," he said and gave her a hug as well. "What have you been up to?"

"Oh, you know, hunting monsters," she shrugged with a smile. "The usual."

Cas stepped out of the library, watching the reunion curiously. Sam beckoned him over and settled a hand on his shoulder. "Oh, hey, you haven't met Cas yet, have you?"

"The angel?" Eileen asked.

Cas smiled and reached out to shake her hand. "You must be Eileen Lehey, I've heard a lot about you." He proceeded to sign to her with an expertise that had Sam's eyes widening.

"You too," she replied, signing back.

"You know Sign Language?" Dean asked the angel what Sam was thinking.

Cas looked at him with a frown. "Of course. I know all languages."

Dean smiled at Sam then. "Looks like you have a tutor then, Sammy."

Sam opened his mouth to cut in, hoping Dean wouldn't say something else, but Eileen did it for him.

"Whatever you're cooking smells amazing. Is it ready? I'm starving."

Dean grinned, happy as usual when his culinary pursuits were complimented. "They should be just about done. Why don't you all come into the kitchen and grab some beers?"

Pretty soon all four of them were sitting around the kitchen table and Dean was dishing out hamburgers. He even made Cas sit down and eat, even though the angel usually didn't partake in food.

Sam thought briefly of how Mom had said she never cooked like Dean apparently thought she had in his childhood. Sam of course didn't remember anything about that, but he'd also noticed that since Mom had left, Dean had made it a point to make dinner more often instead of just ordering pizzas or whatever. Sam wondered if it was some sort of defiance or him trying to prove something. He knew that Mom's leaving hit Dean even harder than it had him. Dean never took abandonment well, Sam should know, and even though he could kind of understand Mom's reasoning, he still felt it had been a little harsh, was even somewhat angry at her that she would open that old wound in Dean that had never quite healed when she died to begin with.

In any case, he was glad they had a new hunt to focus on. What with the search for Lucifer pretty much dead, they really needed something new to occupy their time.

"So Eileen, what's your take on the happenings up in Oregon?" Dean asked her, obviously wanting to get to the business of the hunt as soon as possible.

Eileen took a sip of her beer before she answered. "The cows being unable to produce milk, and the women going into early labor were only the beginning," she said. "There's also been a lot of hikers disappearing in the woods outside of Portland and strange creatures spotted there as well. These are common signs in Ireland and Britain but here, not so much."

"Yeah, we haven't really seen that exact pattern before," Sam said with a frown. "So what is it?"

"Faeries," Eileen said simply.

Dean groaned and Sam frowned. "Are you serious? We have to deal with those douchbags again?" Dean demanded.

"Not just faeries," Eileen continued. "It's worse than that. All the signs, and the time of year, it can only be one thing. Lillian O'Grady, the hunter who trained me, witnessed it years ago. She wrote about it in her journal." She glanced at all three of them in turn. "It's called the Wild Hunt."

~~~~~~~

That night after dinner, they hit the library and pulled out all the books they had on Celtic and European folklore and mythology, finding anything they could about faeries, All Hallows—or Samhain—and the Wild Hunt.

It was a lot more extensive than they had imagined when they set out.

Sam huffed a sigh as he ran a hand over his face, flipping through about the fourth book he had found on the subject. "Okay, so, according to what I've found so far, there are multiple renditions of the Wild Hunt from pretty much every European culture you can imagine. In Norse mythology it's led by Odin and his immortal warriors; in British mythology, it's led by the sidhe, or faeries, and marks their hunt through the human world when the veil between our world becomes thin on Halloween. Some people say it's an actual hunt, whether they're hunting a particular bounty, or just animals, maidens, or the sacrifice of choice, and others say it's a portent of war or destruction. Some people even say that it's the devil himself who leads it."

"I don't think Lucifer is bothering with something like that," Cas commented. "He never had anything to do with the Wild Hunt, at least not as far as I am aware. But then Gabriel disguised himself as a pagan deity for centuries without anyone knowing, so I suppose it wouldn't be impossible to imagine."

"But these have happened while Lucifer was in the Cage too, and we're not seeing typical signs of Lucifer there," Sam offered, flipping through files. At least there was that. "This is a report from one of the Men of Letters back in 1905 talks about a Wild Hunt he witnessed in Scotland."

"Lillian said they happen every seven years," Eileen commented as she was flipping through her mentor's journal. "It goes along with the tithe that the faery courts make for good health to the harvest and other things like that. Like in the Ballad of Tam Lin."

"And what kind of tithe is it?" Dean asked warily.

"Human," Eileen stated.

"That's what I thought," Dean muttered. "I friggin' hate faeries. Who knew Tinkerbell was so evil?"

"Faeries are actually pretty bloodthirsty if you read a lot of the original lore," Sam reminded his brother.

"I think what we're missing here is the obvious," Dean stated. "Why is it happening here in America, in Portland, Oregon?"

The four of them looked at each other, not really having a good answer for that. But then Sam furrowed his brow as a thought occurred to him.

"Actually, it may not be as strange as it sounds," he said.

"Care to enlighten us?" Dean asked sarcastically.

"Well, Toni Bevel talked about how well the British Men of Letters apparently have the supernatural situation under control over there. What if they drove the faeries out and they came over here so they could keep with their traditions without being bothered by the Brits?"

Dean sighed. "Great, another reason to hate Her Majesty's Douchbags." He turned to Eileen. "So Eileen, does Lillian say how you stop this thing?"

She shook her head. "No, she said she wasn't able to stop it when it happened. But I bet we could find something among all the books here."

"Well, we know iron works," Sam said. "But this seems like a really large scale thing."

"And what we haven't even started to think about is what has been happening to those people who have disappeared," Dean added grimly. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

Sam sighed and leaned back in his chair. "That the faeries are going to use them as the tithe? Yeah. That's probably the most likely answer."

"Then I guess we have work to do," Eileen said matter-of-factly as she pulled out another book. "Let's find out as much as we can and then head to Portland."

Dean picked up another book. "Sounds like my kind of plan."

The next day, after they had done about as much research into the subject as possible, the four of them piled into the Impala and started on their drive to Oregon.

"So, we have plenty of consecrated wrought iron bullets," Sam said. "Those should work, right?"

"Yes, anything iron works against faeries," Eileen told him.

"There's just one thing I'm wondering about," Dean commented, glancing over his shoulder at Eileen and Cas in the backseat. "This Wild Hunt; from what I've read, it seems like no one can ever stop it, like it's just something that happens. I mean, we've done a lot of stuff, but we can't really kill a whole army of faeries, can we? As much as I'd love to do that."

"The important part is saving the people who have disappeared," Sam offered. "If we can at least make sure that no civilians are hurt or killed in the process, then I think we're going to have to call that a win."

Dean grumbled, shaking his head as he looked out at the road. He would rather get rid of the problem at its source. But he figured that Sam was right. Saving people was the foremost aspect of their job. And if they could figure out some way to gank an army of faeries in the meantime, then that would be awesome too.

"We have almost three more days until Halloween," Sam said. "Let's hope that's enough time."

"Don't forget that the Hunt will happen at midnight on Halloween," Eileen commented. "That is one thing that all the accounts agree on. It always happens at midnight."

"Doesn't everything?" Dean sighed.

~~~~~~~

The next day they reached Portland and Dean turned off the road to a motel he had spotted comfortably on the outskirts of the city. "Okay," he said, parking the Impala. "I'll get us a couple rooms and we can grab some food and start asking around."

A couple hours later, they were talking to the locals, trying to get any firsthand information they could about the disappearances. They split up to interview the families and friends of the missing persons—seven in all now—and reconvened back at the motel that night.

Dean walked in with pizzas and a sixpack and sat down at the small table in the room, tiredly.

"Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I found out no real information at all."

Sam nodded. "Yeah, I mean, all the people seemed to disappear around the same area, on one of the hiking trails around Mount Hood, but aside from that, they have no connections, and the victims are both men and women of differing ages and ethnicities, which is why the locals sheriff's department is baffled since that doesn't fit a profile of a typical serial killer. Their best guess at the moment is wild animal attacks."

"Always go with the classics," Dean muttered as he turned to Cas and Eileen. "Either of you find anything?"

"Talked to a ranger," Eileen said. "He said most of the trails are secluded. It wouldn't be hard to take someone if they were out there alone."

"I talked to some of the farmers about the cattle," Cas said. "They all said they had seen nothing like it before. What milk the cows do produce is sour. I got the feeling that the cows are very distressed."

"You interviewed the cows?" Eileen asked him.

"No, it was just the feeling they were exuding," Cas told her with a frown. "The doctors who delivered the babies for the mothers who went into early labor also expressed how odd it was. There were ten women in all within a three-day period, the same time that the cows went dry. The doctors don't, however, truly believe it was anything but coincidence, if not a strange one."

"Well, let's let them keep thinking that," Dean said as he grabbed a slice of pizza. "I say we get some rest tonight and head out to the woods first thing in the morning."

"Agreed," Sam said.

Of course, Dean didn't really sleep that night. He hadn't been able to since Mom left. No matter how much he found to occupy himself with, he couldn't chase the image of her leaving the bunker out of his head when he lay down to sleep. Of course he'd never truly blamed her for leaving them as children. She hadn't known that the demon deal would get her killed and leave her sons to be raised on the road and endure hardships no children should. But this time…this time she had chosen to leave and that broke something deep inside of Dean. He'd thought he'd gotten past the point where everyone wanted to leave him, but apparently even his own mother had no desire to be around her children. Rationally, Dean knew it wasn't his fault, but still…what was it about him that made people leave?

He glanced at Sam sleeping peacefully in the other bed before he grunted and flipped the bedside light on and grabbed his laptop. May as well do more research if he couldn't sleep.

Dean nodded off a couple times, but was still up before everyone else so he went to get coffee and doughnuts. By the time he got back, he found Eileen, Sam and Cas sitting around the table in their room again, looking over maps of the area that Eileen had picked up the day before from the ranger's station.

"Got breakfast," Dean said with forced cheerfulness. "Can't go hunting faeries on an empty stomach."

"Thanks," Eileen said as he handed her a coffee.

"So you find any likely places that the faeries could be hiding out?" he asked looking over her shoulder at the map.

"Yeah, actually," Sam said, pointing to a spot they had marked on the map. "The lore says that faeries usually like to live underground or, 'under hills'. Of course typically, it's just because they make their gateways to the faery realm through hills, but there are some cave systems not too far from where the hikers were taken, and we thought we could at least start there."

"Sounds good to me," Dean said, as he sat down with his coffee and doughnuts. "We have until tomorrow at midnight to find these people so any leads are good."

They headed out to the forest right after breakfast. Dean grumbled as he drove the Impala up the small muddy road.

"I'm never gonna get all this crap off of Baby," he muttered as they got out and he saw the mud caking her wheels and sides.

"It'll be fine, Dean," Sam assured his brother with some exasperation. Dean glared at him, but grabbed his bag out of the trunk.

"Okay, everyone arm up," he said, handing out wrought iron rounds, and both iron and silver blades. Some accounts said that the higher sidhe, or 'court faeries' were susceptible to silver more than the common iron and they didn't want to take any chances.

"Wait," Eileen said and slipped her coat off. Dean watched with a frown as she started to turn it inside out. "This is a trick that Lillian taught me. Turning your clothes inside out or wearing red can help to stay immune to faery tricks."

"Huh," Dean said as he shrugged out of his own jacket. "Wish I had known that one before." He looked over at Cas. "Cas, you gonna do it?"

"As an angel I probably won't be susceptible," he said.

"Just do it, man," Dean said. "We don't need you wandering off."

Cas narrowed his eyes, but did as Dean said with a sigh.

"Here." Eileen reached into her pocket and pulled out several stones with holes in the middle. "These will help too."

"A seeing stone?" Sam asked as he took one and brought it up to his eyes, that geeky look on his face. "We didn't even have one in the bunker."

"They're not hard to find," Eileen told him with a smile. "It just has to be a hole bored naturally by water."

"What does it do?" Dean asked as he took one of the stones for himself.

"Seeing stones let you see past faery glamours," Sam told him. That way they can't hide from us."

"Okay," Dean said skeptically. He wasn't sure how well the faery seeing monocle would work, but he knew how annoying those little bastards could be so he was willing to try anything.

"That I don't need," Cas told Eileen. "But thank you."

"Well, let's get this show on the road," Dean said and nodded to the trailhead that started on one side of the car lot.

The four of them started off through the moist, green forest—the evergreens making it hard to tell that the trees were turning orange and yellow in other parts of the world. But there was still the bite of autumn in the air and Dean had a vague memory of getting an excited Sammy ready to go trick-or-treating as kids this time of year, so long ago now, but then Dad had nipped that in the bud right quick and Dean had been the one who had to make it up to Sam later. Typical. He wondered vaguely if Mom would have let them go trick-or-treating but he locked those thoughts away. He needed to stay focused. He couldn't waste time whining about his crappy childhood or his back-from-the-dead mother.

They alternated between using the seeing stones as they walked, but so far there was nothing that looked remotely fae out there. In fact it was really quiet.

Too quiet.

"Hey, Cas," Dean called, knowing the angel would be the one more attuned to the natural. "You seen any animals out here?"

Cas frowned but shook his head. "No, they are all laying low. They can feel that something is going to happen. I believe the presence of the faeries has disturbed them."

"Great," Dean muttered. "Well, I guess that at least means we're on the right track. How much farther to the cave?"

Sam looked at the map he had brought. "About three more miles."

Dean sighed and reached into his pack for a bag of beef jerky. "I say we stop for a bite."

Eileen smiled. "Agreed."

They sat down and pulled out water bottles, beef jerky and granola—Sam's idea—and took a few minutes to get their bearings.

"You know we still don't have a plan for what to do when we do find the faeries and need to get the hikers out," Cas commented frowning at the strip of jerky Dean had handed to him and sniffing it cautiously.

"When do we ever have a plan?" Dean quipped. "I think in this case, stealth is going to be our best option. We can't exactly stand up against an entire army of very determined supernatural dicks and expect to get out of the situation alive."

"We'll need to find a way to the captives without catching the notice of the faeries," Eileen said.

"Which we won't know how to do until we get there and see what we have to work with," Sam said thoughtfully. "Eileen, are there any other charms that can cloak us from faeries?"

She shrugged and tugged on her inside-out jacket. "This will help, but there's nothing to really cloak a person from faeries, unfortunately."

"Well, we do have these," Dean said, patting the gun and knife at his hip. "If we can at least take down the guards we'll be doing okay."

They started off again after their snack and continued hiking until they made it to the caves they had seen on the map. It didn't look very impressive on the outside, and hardly big enough to house a whole army of faeries. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. Unless they had been wrong, and the faeries weren't here after all.

But Dean shot a glance at Cas who was staring at the cave with a frown on his face.

"Cas, you good?" he asked.

"There's something…it's very faint, but I think we have the right place."

Sam quickly brought the seeing stone to his eye and Dean did the same wondering what it was all about.

There was an instant change as he looked through the stone, making him blink. Up to that point, he had been skeptical as to whether it actually worked or not, but now he could definitely see something about the cave entrance. It looked almost like it had a shimmery film over it, faint, like a spider's web in the sunlight, but definitely not natural.

"Well, I'll be damned," Dean said. "I guess we were right after all."

"Only question is," Sam said, "do we just go in?"

"That may not be the best idea," Cas said. "It's possible they have made a portal to the faery realm. If we go through we could end up there and with the differing time lapse, we may not be able to rescue the hikers in time for the Hunt."

"But what if the hikers are being kept there?" Sam asked.

"We have to try," Eileen agreed.

Cas nodded. "Then I'll do my best to keep an accurate time."

The four looked at each other with a determined nod, took their weapons to hand and then approached the cave.

~~~~~~~

Sam blinked as they passed through the barrier that was invisible to the naked eye, and looked around in surprise at the interior of the cave.

They were definitely not in their world anymore. Instead of the typical damp, darkness one would expect to find in a cave, they had stepped into something that looked more like a medieval hall out of a fantasy world with odd greenish-blue lights illuminating it. When he looked through the seeing stone however, it just looked like a normal cave.

"Huh," he said with interest.

"The stone works the opposite way in the faery realm," Eileen told him. "It shows you the world without the glamour."

"So we're in faery land," Dean muttered. "Awesome."

"We should start moving in case they can tell someone has walked through the gateway," Cas said.

They all agreed and started off through the weird, shimmery atmosphere.

"So is faery time like Hell time?" Dean asked after a few seconds.

"It's the exact opposite," Cas told him. "In Hell more time passes there than in our world, in the faery realm you could think you were only there for a night but when you get back to the real world a whole year could have passed."

"Awesome," Dean muttered.

"I guess that means we need to hurry up then," Eileen said.

"Agreed," Dean told her. "I hate to suggest this, but I think it might be a good idea to split up. That way we can cover more ground."

Sam nodded. "We're going to have to." They had come to a split tunnel and he turned to his brother. "Eileen and I will take the left, you and Cas can take the right. We'll meet back here as soon as we can."

"Be careful," Dean cautioned.

Sam nodded. "You too." He turned to Eileen with a smile and the two pairs split off, taking the separate tunnels.

They were walked for a little while, and Sam was beginning to wonder why it was so quiet, tense for the moment they would inevitably meet up with a faery. But then he heard something further down the tunnel and he held up a hand to Eileen.

"Wait," he said.

"What is it?" she asked, eyes darting around, and her hand clenching tighter on her knife.

"I heard something," Sam said and beckoned her forward, putting a finger to his lips to indicate silence. The tunnel widened ahead and looked like it opened into a larger room. A figure crossed the opening of the tunnel and Sam and Eileen both hurriedly pressed themselves against the side of the wall before continuing to creep forward.

They glanced around the corner and saw a large room and in the center was a cage where at least seven people were sitting, silent and afraid.

"The hikers," Sam mouthed to Eileen and she gave a sharp nod.

But they weren't the only ones in the room. Two faeries with spears strode around the room. They were dressed in leather pants and armor and had their long hair tied back, bare arms ropy with muscles. They certainly looked like they were ready for battle.

"How do we do this?" Sam asked silently.

Eileen glanced around the room, taking in the situation. She then pointed to the guards, and then to herself. Then she pointed to Sam and indicated the cage of prisoners.

Sam nodded, understanding her plan, though was a bit reluctant. He knew Eileen could handle herself, but against two fae warriors? And what if more came? He was beginning to wish they hadn't decided to split up.

Eileen had both her daggers in her hands and she walked out into the room.

The two guards gave a shout of surprise as they turned to see her.

"How did you get in here, human?" one asked.

"Not just a human. A hunter," Eileen told them, raising her dagger before she charged directly at the warriors.

Sam dashed inside and over to the cage, looking for the opening. The hikers were getting to their feet, some with hope, and some with trepidation in their eyes.

"Don't worry, we're here to get you out," Sam assured them with a smile as he found the lock.

"It's no good," one man said cynically. "You'll need the key."

Sam gave a small huff of amusement. "I think we can make an exception."

One of the faery guards hissed in anger and pain as Eileen scored a hit with her iron dagger across his upper arm. But she followed it up by catching hold of the spear the guard carried and darting under it to deliver a killing blow, stabbing the faery in the chest. He collapsed, and Eileen spun to meet the other attacker as Sam pulled out his pistol.

"Everyone to the other side of the cage and get down," he commanded, and as they all obeyed, he leveled the gun at the lock and shot.

The iron bypassed any special faery lock that might have been used, and it blew apart. Sam yanked the door open and ushered the people out.

"Okay, go, go!" he commanded then turned to help Eileen, but she was already standing over the second faery, pulling her knife from his throat. She turned to look at Sam with a small smile.

"Pretty good, huh?" she asked.

Sam grinned and nodded. "Yeah, pretty good."

"Let's get these people out of here," Eileen said and they hurried back toward the tunnel they had taken before, ushering the people ahead, Sam taking the lead and Eileen bringing up the rear.

"What the hell were those things?" one woman asked.

"Faeries," Sam told her. "And yeah, I know how crazy that sounds."

Shouts could be heard from the cave they had just left, and Sam glanced over his shoulder, seeing Eileen do the same.

"Sam," she cried. "More are coming!"

"Okay, we need to hurry this up!" Sam told the hikers and they picked up the pace, jogging through the tunnels.

"Sammy!"

"Dean!" Sam called in relief as he saw his brother and Cas hurrying up to them. They had their knives out, both bloody, and looking like they'd gotten into a scuffle.

"You found 'em?" Dean asked eying all the rescued hikers.

"Yeah, this is all of them," Sam said.

"Good, 'cause I think we've been found out," Dean said.

More shouting could be heard from further in the caves, as well as the frantic barking of dogs. Sam knew that couldn't be a good sign.

"Go, now." He urged the hikers ahead of him, Cas and Dean now taking the lead. Sam caught up with Eileen and they glanced behind them, seeing shadows of faery warriors fast approaching.

"Sam!" Dean's voice rose above the cacophony and Sam glanced behind him and saw more faeries pouring out of a side entrance.

"Eileen!" he cried, even though she couldn't hear him, and grabbed her arm, pulling her to one side, trying to pick up their pace before they were cut off.

But it was too late. Something slammed into Sam's legs below the knee and he was brought to the ground like a felled tree. He looked down and saw a bolo wrapped around his lower legs.

"Sam!" Eileen cried, right before the faeries poured in on them and two of them grabbed her arms. She fought, but it was no use. They hurriedly put ropes around her arms to secure her.

And more faeries were piling of top of Sam, tying him up as well and dragging him to his feet.

He glanced ahead, but didn't see Dean, Cas or the hikers and he hoped that they had been able to get out. At least that was one thing.

But he and Eileen were completely bound and overcome by the faeries, with no hope of getting out.

They were dragged down a corridor, and into another room where a tall faery was standing, discussing something angrily with several others. He looked up when Sam and Eileen were dragged in, and his lips thinned, a sneer coming over his face.

"Ah, look what we have here," he said condescendingly. "Hunters."


	2. Chapter 2

Dean saw Sam go down and then watched, helpless, as the faeries ganged up on his brother and Eileen.

"Sam!" he cried, turning and pushing through the frantic hikers to go to their aid, but a hand clamped on his shoulder and hauled him back.

"Dean we have to go!" Cas shouted in his ear as the noise of the shouting faeries and the barking dogs only increased.

"We can't leave them!" Dean protested, straining against his friend's grip but Cas simply grabbed his other arm and started to haul him back.

"If we stay we'll all be captured, as well as these innocent people, is that what you want?"

Dean swallowed hard, but knew Cas was right. He gritted his teeth, spat a curse and then let the angel haul him toward the cave entrance where they hurried out, pushing the group of hikers along with them.

There was a slight popping sensation as they went through the veil and then they were out in the woods again. The normal woods. Dean heaved a sigh of relief for that at least.

The hikers were stumbling around, panting, looking like they weren't sure what they had just witnessed.

"Come on," Dean said, snapping back to some rational thinking. "We need to keep going. There's no guarantee that they won't follow us."

He and Cas led the rescued hikers down the trail and finally made it to the trail head where Dean called the local ranger to see about transporting them back to town so they could get checked out at a hospital.

Dean kept casting glances over his shoulder, getting more and more anxious at the thought of leaving Sam and Eileen stuck in fairyland having who-knows-what done to them. He shuddered as the thought of his own 'abduction' years back and didn't want to entertain too many notions about what those bastards were doing to his brother and the Irish hunter right now.

"Dean, as soon as we get these people seen to we'll think of a way to get Sam and Eileen back," Cas said quietly at his shoulder as they stood by, watching the rangers load the people into a van.

"You coming back with us?" the ranger called to Dean and Cas as he moved to the driver's seat.

"Not yet, we have some stuff to finish up here," Dean told him vaguely. "We'll be back to brief the sheriff soon." Or not.

Once the van drove off down the road, Dean glanced at the sky and checked the time. "Dammit, it's already almost sundown." He bit his lip and looked worriedly off in the trees.

Cas settled a hand on his shoulder. "I think it might be prudent to head back to town and regroup. We know where the faeries are now, what we need is a plan to get Sam and Eileen out of there."

"Whatever we do isn't going to have any better results than with the hikers," Dean said grimly as he and Cas headed over to the Impala. "Plus they'll be expecting us now. If we go in there again, we're screwed."

"Then what do you suggest?"

Dean hated this plan, but he knew it was the best one they had. "Well, I figure it this way. Bottom line, the faeries are going to be pissed we took their sacrifice. Now that they have Sam and Eileen, though…"

Cas exhaled slowly. "They'll likely use them as surrogates."

Dean nodded, sick to his stomach at the thought. "Exactly. Which means we at least have until tomorrow night to figure out how to stop the hunt or rescue Sam and Eileen in some other way."

Cas nodded firmly. "Then I guess we have more research to do."

~~~~~~~

"Ah, look what we have here. Hunters."

Sam and Eileen were shoved forward toward what Sam suspected was the leader of the faeries. He was tall, and thin, with long dark hair tied back at the nape of his neck, looking a little like an elf extra from Lord of the Rings but with a more modern style of outfit. Sam had noticed that aside from the leather, the faeries pretty much looked like they were wearing normal combat gear. They just had more medieval weapons. This one did not look happy at all, however.

"Search them for weapons," he said to the guards who were holding Sam and Eileen captive and they were roughly searched until their guns and blades were gingerly removed and tossed to one side. Then they were both shoved unceremoniously to their knees.

The faery leader strode forward now, looking at them with some interest, but mostly just annoyance.

"I truly hate your kind, you know," he said. "You're always barging in and trying to destroy us."

"You have no right to kidnap people," Eileen told him firmly.

"Don't I?" the faery asked, almost sounding affronted. "My people have been doing it for centuries. It's how things are. It's how they've always been."

"And there's always been hunters to stop you," Sam added.

"Yes, but now I'm in a predicament," the faery leader said. "You see, I need a quarry for the Hunt, and now you have let all my tithes go, so were does that leave me?"

"Maybe you should just go back home to Ireland," Eileen told him.

"Oh trust me, Huntress, if I could, I would. But my people have been cast out, thanks to that jumped-up organization of overzealous Englishmen who call themselves the Men of Letters," the faery scoffed. "Perhaps once they were the scholars they say they are, but in the last couple decades they have become nothing better than the 'monsters' they claim to hunt."

Sam's stomach clenched at the faery's words. He was almost inclined to agree after what Toni Bevel had done to him before he'd even gotten a chance to talk things over with her.

"Look, we don't care much for the Brits either," Sam tried to appeal. "And I'm sure we don't know the half of what you and you're people have gone through…"

"No you don't!" the faery snapped, stepping up to Sam and glowering harshly into his face. "My people have been slaughtered by the Men of Letters! And we finally relocate, try to get back to our old ways, and then more hunters barge in and decide they know better how to run the show." He shook his head, sneering in disgust. "My people used to be strong, immortal, but now we have no power, because our tithes are weak, and our realm has all but been destroyed. I, Kallan, am the last of the faery princes, and even I cannot truly do what I need to to keep my people safe."

Sam shared a look with Eileen. He wasn't exactly ready to sympathize with a being who hunted down humans, but he could at least understand where this Kallan was coming from. "Look, I know it's gotta be rough, but we're trying to do what's best for our people just like you," Sam said, trying to appeal to the faery prince. "It's our job to protect people from supernatural creatures."

"And I can respect that," Kallan said. "I too am a warrior and I have fought many battles for my people. Which is why I am willing to offer you a choice." He narrowed his eyes shrewdly at Sam and Eileen. "You two are hunters, you likely understand the thrill of the hunt—but I guarantee you that you have never been on a hunt like the Wild Hunt. It would be a once in a lifetime opportunity for you, pure adrenaline, and nothing but the base pleasure of chasing down your quarry. You will never experience anything like it. I am offering you an invitation to join me. Help me find another quarry and you can join in on the hunt. If you do, I will give you untold riches."

Sam's jaw twitched as he shook his head. "We're not going to join you, or help you find another sacrifice."

Kallan's face colored in rage. "You would actually turn down my offer?" he gave a short laugh. "You obviously do not understand how precious that invitation was, human; I will not give another, and soon you will wish you had taken it."

"We don't hunt for pleasure," Eileen told him. "We do it to save people."

"Then you are weak," Kallan scoffed. "But perhaps you don't truly understand what the hunt means. But I guarantee you that by the end of tomorrow at midnight, you will."

Sam felt dread in his stomach, but he already knew where this was going.

"If you will not help me find a new sacrifice, then you will have to take that place," Kallan said. "And I promise you, you're not going to like to be the prey when this Hunt starts to chase you down. There will be no mercy for you."

Sam swallowed hard. "Then do it. We're not going to change our minds."

"So be it," Kallan said and nodded to his guards. "Take them and keep them locked up well. I don't want them slipping away before the Hunt."

"Yes, your majesty," said the guards who had kept their hold on Sam and Eileen as they dragged them to their feet again and hauled them down a corridor to a small room. It was dark and wet, and they threw Sam and Eileen inside and slammed the door shut.

Sam hit the ground with a grunt, unable to catch himself with his hands bound, and Eileen made a sound of protest as well.

It was too dark for her to read his lips but Sam found Eileen's hand in the dark and squeezed in reassurance, trying to convey that everything would be alright. Dean and Cas wouldn't leave them here to be cut down by a faery army.

"Sam, I'm sorry," Eileen said.

"Hey," Sam said, squeezing her hand again, then bit his lip and pressed his hand into the flat of her palm, trying to sign 'not your fault'.

Eileen exhaled. "We'll get out of this." She said surely, and Sam felt her hand on his palm, making a new sign, pressing against his hand insistently. "It will be okay," she told him.

Sam had to smile a bit and made the sign back, to let her know he had under stood, then linked his fingers around hers again, not wanting her to be completely cut off in the dark.

Eileen squeezed back and they sat shoulder to shoulder in the darkness, just waiting for the moment they would have to run for their lives.

~~~~~~~

Several hours to midnight, Dean and Cas had done copious amounts of research and acquired all they could possibly find as far as faery protection and repellent went. They'd both dressed in red shirts (Dean was not thinking of the Star Trek correlation there) and turned their coats inside out again. They'd also found sprigs of rowan, tucking them into their pockets, which was supposed to be another concealer/deterrent to the fae.

"All of this just seems ridiculous," Dean said as he loaded more wrought iron rounds into his gun and handed Cas one of his spare pistols.

"Well, according to the lore and Lillian O'Grady's journal, it does work," Cas said.

They'd also found out that faeries couldn't cross running water, and had found a place on the trail map that they could hopefully use as their escape rout should they be able to rescue Sam and Eileen at the spot they were hoping to. After discovering that the Hunt would likely follow the most prominent ley line in the area, they had been able to make a more educated guess as to the path of the hunt. Hopefully, it would be accurate. If not, then…well, Dean didn't know what they were going to do, but hopefully go down fighting.

"Six hours to midnight," Cas said.

Dean glanced at his watch, and closed the trunk of the Impala. "Let's get a head start then."

The angel nodded and they climbed into the car, as Dean started the engine.

All Dean could think about on the drive there was that he could not lose another person right now. Even though he knew Mom was still out there and well, the pain of anyone else leaving him right now would be too much.

He was going to save Sam and Eileen that night if it was the last thing he did.

~~~~~~~

The door to their cell opened, casting sharp light over Sam and Eileen, causing them to blink in the sudden change. More fae guards came in and unceremoniously hauled them to their feet, dragging them out of the cell and all the way outside the cave.

Sam saw Prince Kallan sitting on a black horse, dressed in that leather armor, a long spear held at his side and surrounded by a group of his warriors, some also on horses, others on foot. There were also a bunch of strange white dogs with red-tipped ears, sniffing restlessly around.

"We have the tithes, my lord," one of the guards said to Kallan.

"Good, now cut their bonds," Kallan instructed.

The guards cut the ropes from Sam and Eileen's hands and Sam winced and instantly began rubbing life back into his numb appendages.

"Now take off their jackets. There will be no trickery tonight, and the dogs will need something to scent."

Their still inside-out jackets were yanked roughly from their shoulders and tossed to one of the dog handlers. He balled them up and threw them into the group of dogs, who instantly began snarling and snapping at the scent. Sam swallowed hard.

"Now," Kallan said, turning to Sam and Eileen. "To give us a little more sport, we're going to give you a head start. So I would suggest you start running now."

Sam glanced at Eileen, and they didn't need any more coaxing. There was the blast of a warning horn and they surged forward, careening down the path ahead of them, through the moonlit trees.

Sam was pretty positive that they were royally screwed.

"Sam," Eileen called as they ran. "We'll make it. Just stay together."

Sam reached out and squeezed her hand, and then they put on another burst of speed as they heard a second hunting horn, and the sound of baying hounds in the distance.

~~~~~~~~

Dean hated being in the woods at night, especially when he was waiting for something evil—which was pretty much the only reason he ever hung out in the woods at night. It reminded him too much of Purgatory. He glanced over at Cas who was crouched beside him, wondering if the angel was getting the same vibes. Dean checked his watch again. It was ten minutes to midnight. He glanced down the path again.

"What if we're wrong about the path?" he asked Cas.

Cas pressed his lips into a thoughtful line. "This was the only major ley line that ran through the area. I'm sure it's the path the faeries will take. Besides, there's a river only a quarter mile from here. This is the perfect point to make the rescue."

"Yeah, if Sam and Eileen make it this far," Dean said grimly.

"The Hunt is partly ceremonial too, Dean," Cas said, obviously trying to be reassuring, but not doing so great in Dean's opinion. "The faeries aren't just going to bring them down in the first few seconds of the Hunt. They will run the course of the path and finish it then. A sacrifice means nothing if it is too easy to take down."

Dean's stomach roiled but he had to admit it made sense—in a horrible, twisted way. "Okay. But come on, Cas, we escape the faeries by standing in the middle of the road?" That had been another thing they'd come across in their research. It said that anyone caught in a faery raid only had to stand directly in the middle of the road and somehow, the faeries wouldn't notice them. "With nothing but some twigs and some inside out clothes? I mean, even for normal hunting hoodoo this seems really weak."

"The middle of a road is a safe place, like a crossroads, almost," Cas explained. "It's neither here nor there, one thing or another; therefor it's neither of our world or the faery world."

"Oh yeah, that makes so much sense," Dean rolled his eyes, but it wasn't like that had any more options. He just hoped it was enough to keep them alive.

He could feel it when midnight hit. It was like the whole forest, which hadn't been exactly loud before, fell into a stupor. Even the breeze in the trees stopped and the silence was deafening.

"Cas…" he murmured.

"I feel it too," the angel said, a haunted note to his voice. "It's starting."

Then came the sound of a faint horn blast in the distance and all the hair stood up on the back of Dean's neck.

"Well, here we go," he muttered to Cas, instinctively shifting his grip on his gun and the iron knife.

"We'll have to do this fast," Cas said, also readying his gun and angel blade. "We'll have to jump into the path and get into position as soon as we see Sam and Eileen."

Dean nodded, wetting his lips.

It was an eternity of waiting, but he knew when the Hunt was getting closer. A breeze picked up, icy cold even for this time of year and he shivered and pulled his jacket tighter around him. Even Cas seemed effected by the preternatural chill, shoulders hunched slightly.

And then he heard the cacophony; the hunting horns blowing dreadful peals and the hounds baying for blood. The ground shook with the thunder of the horses' hooves, and then, Dean could see the procession through the trees as the noise rolled toward them like a tidal wave.

And at the front, two lone figures tearing up the path as fast as they could with what looked like a hunting party from hell on their heels.

~~~~~~~

Sam's breath came in sharp pants, his chest and legs burned as he forced himself to keep going. Eileen looked just as exhausted beside him, but she was somehow managing to keep pace with his long legs, and neither of them dared slow down even for a second. He could practically feel the breath of the horses and the faery hounds at his back, the pounding of the Hunt shook the ground under their feet and they both knew that if they faltered, if they tripped, it would all be over, and there would be no mercy from the Hunt on their heels.

Sam nearly jumped out of his skin when two figures suddenly appeared in front of them on the path, grabbing Eileen's arm as he heard her gasp.

"Sammy!" came a cry, and he saw it was only Dean and Cas.

Relief flooded him, but it was short lived as he continued to pound toward his brother and best friend.

"Get out of the road!" he shouted. "Go!"

"No, Sammy, stop, listen to me, just stop!" Dean shouted past the thunder of the Hunt that was only getting closer.

"Are you insane?!" Sam demanded breathlessly as they approached them, but Dean reached out to snag a hand in Sam's shirt, jerking him to a halt.

"Just trust me," he said as Cas did the same to Eileen.

"They won't be able to detect us if we stand in the exact middle of the path," Cas explained, signing to Eileen to make sure she understood. "So everyone just stay still!"

"That's crazy!" Eileen protested.

"Crazy's usually all we got," Dean said as the Hunt got closer, just rounding the corner of the path and heading straight toward them.

Sam bit his lip, but, going against every instinct he had, he grabbed Eileen and pulled her close against him. Dean and Cas pressed in close as well, and the four of them stood there in the exact middle of the path, hands gripping each other's clothes in sheer terror as the Hunt pounded closer and closer until it was right on top of them.

There was a second Sam was sure they would simply be mown down, by the horses, or Kallan's spear, or torn apart by the hounds, but as if my some magic (and he supposed that's what it was) the Hunt simply parted around them as if they weren't there. They could feel the wind of their passing, as they huddled there, trying to be as small as possible, but nothing touched them.

Soon the hunt had passed and Sam gasped a breath of relief and shock, lifting his head to stare incredulously at his companions, three pairs of haunted and astonished eyes looked back at him.

"Holy crap," Dean breathed. "I can't believe that actually worked."

"We have to go," Cas urged. "It's only a matter of time before they figure out we tricked them."

"Where?" Sam demanded.

"To the river, follow us," Dean said and directed their party off the path.

Sam frowned but then remembered something from his research about faeries being unable to cross running water. He wished he had thought of that before.

They all stepped off the path.

He could almost feel the shift in the night. A malevolent wind cut through the trees and there was a shout and a horn blast from the Hunt. The dogs barked in confusion and Sam felt terror strike right through him.

"Son of a bitch," Dean muttered, then, "Run!"

They did. Even as exhausted as Sam was, he pushed his legs into another sprint. "How far?" he panted to his brother.

"Quarter mile," Dean shot back. "Save your breath, let's go!"

But the faeries had already figured out that they had escaped. The Hunt was turning around and he could hear Kallan's furious shouts as he instructed his men on what to do.

The pounding started up again, and the four hunters pushed themselves forward even faster, crashing between trees and through the underbrush.

Then Eileen tripped over a branch and fell with a cry. Sam skidded to a halt and turned to haul her to her feet, but by then, they had already lost precious time.

Kallan, at the head of his warriors pounded toward them, and a group of the fae dogs tore ahead of the horses, looking ready to eat the human hunters alive.

"Sam!" Dean cried, spinning around and getting off several shots toward the coming army as Sam and Eileen staggered into a run again, but the faeries were on top of them.

A hound leapt and snagged the back of Sam's shirt in its teeth, jerking him to a halt. Several more did the same, nipping at flesh and bearing Sam to the ground. He fought, grabbed a stick and tore his shirt from their teeth as he struck out with his makeshift weapon, feeling claws rake his back and legs in the process.

He looked around frantically for Eileen and saw her fending off a fae warrior with only her bare hands. The butt of the faery's spear whipped around and struck her in the side of the head and she fell like a sack of rocks.

"Dean!" Sam shouted, and surged forward to barrel into the faery before he could stab Eileen with the spear. They both fell to the ground and Sam grappled with the warrior before the faery got his feet between them and kicked Sam hard in the chest. Sam felt ribs crack under the heavy boots and flew over the faery's head to land heavily next to Eileen, body singing with pain, fighting to get air back in his lungs.

But Eileen was stirring and she rolled to her knees, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him up.

"Come on!" she cried.

Dean and Cas laid down more covering fire and Sam, with his arm over Eileen's shoulder, managed to make it back over to them. Cas and Dean handed them each an iron dagger. As they retreated, half running backwards toward the river, which was finally in sight.

"Only a little further," Dean shouted. "Just keep going!"

"Do not let them escape!" Kallan was shouting to his men. "Kill them!"

More dogs were rushing forward. One clawed at Cas, but he stabbed it with his angel blade, but Kallan himself was readying his spear to throw toward them, aiming directly at Sam.

Sam froze in the split second before the fae prince threw it, but the faery never got the chance to do more than aim. Eileen spun the dagger she held to grip the blade and then threw it.

It spun blade over hilt, glinting in the moonlight and took Prince Kallan right in the center of his chest. His eyes bugged out and he slid off his horse, falling in a heap on the ground and not getting up.

"Run!" Dean shouted, grabbing both Sam and Eileen by their arms and jerking them the last few yards toward the river.

The four of them splashed through the water and collapsed on the other side, gasping for breath.

Sam rolled over, watching the faeries as they stared in horror at their fallen leader, and glared across the river at them. The dogs barked angrily, sniffing at the opposite bank, but no one tried to cross.

Sam sank back against the cold, damp ground, his body singing with pain, listening to Eileen gasping beside him.

Dean slumped back as well, sprawling next to Sam with a groan. "I friggin' hate Halloween."

The next night they were back in the bunker. Sam for one was glad. They had left Portland as soon as they got out of the woods, not wanting to have to answer any questions from the local PD. They'd all been wet, and looked a little worse for wear, especially Sam and Eileen, bruises and abrasions covering their bodies. Sam had a couple cracked ribs on top of it, but they had survived the Wild Hunt, and not many people could say that. Cas had been able to heal them before they left anyway, and as soon as they had grabbed the rest of their stuff from the motel they had been off back to Kansas.

Sam was glad when they pulled into the garage. Even though they could probably boast the fact that they were the only hunters who had survived the Wild Hunt, he was just glad to be back home. After all, the Winchesters had managed the impossible multiple times before. In reality it was just another typical day in the life.

"Ugh," Dean groaned in relief as he threw his duffle bag onto the library table and sank into one of the chairs. "That's it. Next year I'm not leaving the bunker on Halloween. And if I see another faery I'm just gonna shoot first and ask questions never."

Eileen smiled as she sat down as well. "Thank you for your help. I couldn't have done it alone."

"Hey, you know you can always count on us," Sam told her with a smile, squeezing her shoulder. "Unless it's faeries."

She laughed and Sam smirked. Dean rolled his eyes.

"Okay, well, I'm hitting the shower and then bed."

"Yeah, me too," Sam said tiredly. "I'll show you the room you can stay in, Eileen," Sam said.

"Thanks," she replied. "I could use the rest too."

Sam showed Eileen to one of the empty rooms and grabbed her a fresh towel. "Hey, um, you can stay for as long as you like, you know."

Eileen gave him a smile. "I know. Thank you. But I have things I need to do back in Ireland. People to save, things to hunt."

Sam huffed a laugh, trying not to show how disappointed he was. "I get it. Just…you know you always have a place here, right? Whenever you want to stop by, the door's open."

Eileen nodded. "Thanks. I know."

"Good," Sam said, then added, "But probably shouldn't bring anymore faery cases. Dean would be pissed."

Eileen laughed. "Don't worry, I'll handle those on my own." She was silent a moment then said. "We make a pretty good team, don't we?"

Sam smiled. "Yeah, we do."

"Well, I guess I'll let you get some sleep," Eileen said.

"Yeah, you too, get some rest."

Sam left her room and went to grab fresh clothes to the shower, his body exhausted—he was getting too old for this crap. He was looking forward to nothing more than a hot shower and his comfy bed.

He thought he was beginning to agree with Dean about Halloween. Maybe he wouldn't even mind some of that candy after all.


End file.
